Optical adapters are used to optically couple together optical fiber tips of optical connectors. The optical adapters include alignment structure that aligns the fiber tips to enable the transfer of optical signals therebetween. Optical connectors can be secured to the optical adapters when received at the ports of the optical adapters.
In certain examples, the optical connectors include ferrule-less optical connectors. For example, an example ferrule-less optical connector 300 known in the art is shown at FIG. 1. The optical connector 300 includes a connector body 322 having a front mating end 324 and a rear cable terminating end 326. An optical fiber extends forwardly through the connector body 322 and has a ferrule-less end portion that is accessible at the front mating end 324 of the connector body 322. The optical fiber is anchored adjacent the rear cable terminating end 326 against axial movement relative to the connector body 322. When two connectors 300 are coupled together, the end faces of the ferrule-less end portions abut one another, thereby causing the optical fibers to be forced rearwardly into the connector bodies 322 and to buckle/bend within fiber buckling regions of the connector bodies 322. A shutter 328 moves between closed and open positions. The shutter 328 protects the ferrule-less end portion of the optical fiber from contamination when shut and allows access to the ferrule-less end portion when open.
The connector 300 also includes a latch 330 that engages a catch 355 of a fiber optic adapter 350 (see FIG. 2). The latch 330 includes a resilient cantilever style latch. When the connectors 300 are inserted within the coaxially aligned ports of the adapter 350, the shutters 328 of the connectors 300 are retracted, thereby exposing the ferrule-less ends of the optical fibers. Continued insertion causes the ferrule-less ends to enter an optical fiber alignment device. In an example, the fiber alignment device includes funnels leading to a fiber alignment groove, and spring-biased balls pressing the fibers into the groove. Other examples of ferrule-less optical connectors and corresponding optical adapters can be found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/377,189, filed Aug. 7, 2014, and titled “Optical Fiber Connection System Including Optical Fiber Alignment Device,” the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Other ferrule-less fiber optic connection systems are disclosed by United States Patent Application Publication Nos. US 2013/0216186 and US 2014/0072265. The '186 publication discloses a ferrule-less connector with a retractable nose piece. The '265 publication discloses an alignment system for multi-fiber connectors. Improvements are needed in the areas of enhanced fiber end protection and fiber alignment in the areas of single fiber and multi-fiber fiber optic connectors.